SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
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Introduction (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
As he said ‘anjuvan’ (am afraid), emperumAnAr gave a graceful look for such fear to be removed, and so he loses that fear, and thinks – while it would be apt to be saved and do service to him through at least one of the three ways (thought, speech, physical), these sentient entities are experiencing the suffering of the birth! – so thinks amudhanAr and becomes sad.
Introduction (given by piLLailOkam jIyar)
In previous pAsuram – amudhanAr thought about emperumAnAr’s value, and about inability to Not praise emperumAnAr, and he hesitated about how he made an effort for praising him and was afraid (what emperumAnAr might think); emperumAnAr removed his fears by giving him a very graceful look, and due to that his fear was removed, and he started to praise him; In this pAsuram – looking at the ways of worldly people, while emperumAnAr has incarnated to save without making any differentiation among eligible and ineligible people, these worldly people are not thinking about emperumAnAr who, for those who think very well about emperumAnAr once, would dry the never-drying ocean that is this samsAram.
They are not praising with their creation of poems about emperumAnAr who came looking for me to the place I was in, to protect me; even if they are not able to do such praise, they are not worshiping the divine feet of those who are doing such praise; O! even though they got the birth that allowed them to do these, due to confused knowledge, they used that (knowledge) for getting into further series of births, and are suffering – thinking so, amudhanAr becomes sad.
ninaiyAr piRaviyai neekkum pirAnai inneeNilaththE
enai ALa vandha irAmAnusanai irum kavigaL
punaiyAr punaiyum periyavar thALgaLil pUnthodaiyal
vanaiyAr piRappil varundhuvar mAndhar maruL surandhE – 90
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Word by word meaning (given by maNavALa mAmunigaL)
ninaiyAr – they do not think
pirAnai – about emperumAnAr
neekkum – who removes
piRaviyai – the birth of those who think about him;
He who made me who had the incomparable lowliness, to be the teacher of his qualities through these words of prabandham, and to rule me in these ways itself,
punaiyAr – they are not creating
irum kavigaL – big poems that would highlight the qualities
irAmAnusanai – of emperumAnAr
enai ALa vandha – who came searching to the place where I was scraping together my existence
in neeNilaththE – while there is so much place in this world;
If they are not able to write poems,
vanaiyAr – they do not (even) offer
pUm thodaiyal – flower garlands
periyavar thALgaLil – under the divine feet of glorious ones
punaiyum – who author poems about emperumAnAr;
mAndhar – They who have got the birth that enables them to do all these,
maruL surandhu – they have got increased confusion of knowledge
piRappil varundhuvar – and are suffering by drowning in this materialistic birth;
O! what a lost fortune they are of, is the thought here.
Some would recite also as ‘ninaivAr piRaviyai neekkum pirAnai’ (in this case, first two lines become adjective for emperumAnAr, but the original text is considered as having significant meaning).
vanai – do; this talks about offering (garlands).
varundhu – being sad;
vyAkyAnam
ninaiyAr piRaviyai neekkum pirAnai – If they wished to think about him for even one time, like the one who is said as ‘bhakthairaNubhyupahrutham prEmNA pUryEvamE abhavEth’ (even if we do a very small service to Him, He takes it as if we did that with great love and as a great service/help), emperumAnAr enhances that goodness of ours a hundred times, and as said in ‘pApa dhvAntha kshayAyacha’ ((emperumAnAr) removes the darkness that are our sins), he removes birth and death and does not let those things go near them – they do not think about such helper that is emperumAnAr.
jeeyar too divined ‘kAmAdhi dhOsha haram Athma padhAshrithAnAm’ [yathirAja vimSathi – 1]‘ (removes the six dangers like kAma etc., and removes association with karmas and births for those who reached emperumAnAr‘s feet).
in neeNilaththE enai ALa vandha irAmAnusanai – being affectionate with me who was unequaled in lowliness, he made me for himself, to be a teacher of his qualities through the words of this prabandham, to rule me in this world, the world that would confuse even sarvESvaran if He comes incarnating here; emperumAnAr incarnated with the only dedicated goal of saving me; while there is so much place of area in this world, he came searching for the place where I was scraping my existence, in kOyil (SrIrangam), and got myself for him – such emperumAnAr.
irum kavigaL punaiyAr – after getting emperumAnAr’s acceptance, even though they are in a position to author praising SlOkas, as said in ‘senchoR kavigAL [thiruvAimozhi – 10.7.1]’ (~Oh! poets of beautiful words), they do not form the poems that show, without shortening, the qualities (of emperumAnAr) that are so very enjoyable. That is, they do not, through words/speech, do the service of singing praises in detail about his qualities. punai -> constructing/putting words together like putting together flowers to make a garland.
punaiyum periyavar thALgaLil pUnthodaiyal vanaiyAr – Suppose they are not able to author poems, as said in ‘vAchA yatheendhra manasA vapushAchayushmath pAdhAravindhayugaLam bhajathAm gurUNAm | kUrAdhinAtha kurugEsa mukhAdhya pumsAm pAdhAnuchinthana para: [yathirAja vimSathi – 3]’ (Oh yathiraja!, by mind, by speech, and by body, I worship your lotus like feet; always wish to focus my mind at the feet of the preceptors like kUreSa (kUraththAzhvAn), kurugESA (thirukkurukaippirAn piLLAn), et al),
they do not use their three faculties and with love towards emperumAnAr to bring and present fragrant flowers garlanded together, to the divine feet of those with great glories, like AzhvAn, ANdAn, embAr, (kidAmbi) AchchAn, and more, who author poems of praise, like ‘nachEth rAmAnujEthyEshA’, and, ‘puNyAm bhOjavikAsAya’, and, ‘namapraNava maNdanam’, and, ‘yathirAjO jagath guru:’.
vanai -> doing it. By this he is saying about presenting.
It is said too, ‘kUrAdhinAtha kurugEsa mukhAdhya pumsAm pAdhAnuchinthana para: sathatham bhavEyam [yathirAja vimSathi – 3]’ (would wish to always focus on the divine feet of noble ones like kUraththAzhvAn, thirukkurugaip pirAn piLLAN), and,
‘sarasvathee surabhithAshayAnAM sathAM vahAmi charaNAmbujam praNathi SAlinA maulinA. [yathirAja sapthathi – 41]’ (I bow and hold the lotus feet of the great preceptors whose knowledge is having fragrance from the works of emperumAnAr).
piRappil varundhuvar mAndhar maruL surandhE – Surrounded by ignorance, without ability to discern what is to be taken up and what is to be given up, they suffer eternally in births. varundhu -> sadness/suffering.
It is said, “agyAnEna Avrutham gyAnam thEna muhyanthi janthava:” [bhagavath gIthA 5.15] (these beings surrounded by lack of knowledge, they stay ignorant);
O! Even though they possess this birth which can do all these good deeds, they are not getting that clear, they are suffering immersed in birth due to confusion of knowledge; what an unfortunate situation from the womb they came from! – and so amudhanAr is sad about them, you see.
It is said too, ‘dhurlabhO mAnushO dhEhO dhEhinAm kshaNabangura: thathrApi dhurlabam manyE vaikuNtapriya dharSanam [SrI bhAgavatham 11.2.29]’ (It is very rare to acquire a human body which in itself is temporary. Even rarer is to be blessed by the vision of one who is dear to srIvaikuNtanAthan).
‘nrudhEhamAdhyam prathilabhya dhurlabham plavam sukalyam gurukarNadhArakam |
mayAnukUlEna nabhasvathEritham pumAn bhavAbdhim satharEth na AthmahA ||’ (~ This AthmA gets into a boat to cross the ocean that is samsAram, due to the blessing of emperumAn only he can cross it).
amudhanAr himself divined, ‘mAyavan thannai vaNanga vaiththa karaNam ivai’.
From AzhwAr thirunagari SrI u.vE. vidhwAn thirumalai nallAn chakravarththi rAmakrishNa iyengAr’s ‘amudha virundhu’ :
ninaiyAr piRaviyai neekum pirAnai – When he removes the births just based on the thought (about him), O! the people are not thinking about him.
irum kavigaL – big/great poems.
pUnthodaiyal vanaiyAr – If one cannot put together poems on emperumAnAr, at least can they not present the flowers put together? O! they are not even doing that easy task, says amudhanAr with sadness.
Thinking and singing would be about emperumAnAr – but, presenting flowers would be towards his disciples who sing praises on emperumAnAr. While the first two can be done from anywhere towards emperumAnAr, the last also can be done anywhere where emperumAnAr’s devotees are present.
These three services are using mind, speech, and body, respectively, the three faculties to be used for serving. These are shown with words ninaiyAr, punaiyAr, vanaiyAr.
And from this it is shown that there is no difference in achievement of true destiny among those who think about, or sing about, emperumAnAr directly, and those who present flowers to the divine feet of those who are associated to emperumAnAr.
Even though there is difference in levels of acts of these three faculties, there is not a difference in quality of (the same) destiny. So realize that the reason for that opportunity is only based on association with emperumAnAr.
piRappil varundhuvar mAndhar maruL surandhu – While having been born as humans having faculties to do service by mind, speech, and body; due to their ignorance and confusion (maruL surandhu) they suffer (varundhuvar).
piRappu – (birth) – this word in the pAsuram stands for the suffering due to birth.
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Translation: raghurAm SrInivAsa dasan
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